State Coalitions Organize Immigration Policy Town Hall Meetings

This past week, state-level coalitions in Nevada and California organized immigration policy town hall meetings where attendees called for a comprehensive immigration process that includes a road map to citizenship. The Nevada State AFL-CIO helped put together an Asian and Pacific Islander Town Hall in Las Vegas, where more than 100 of the state's residents participated. Meanwhile, in Salinas, Calif., the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council helped organize the Spanish-language Univision Town Hall, which attracted more than 500 attendees.

Gloria T. Caoile, president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance's (APALA's) Nevada chapter, explained why creating a workable immigration system is important to her organization's members (via press release):

More than 60% of the Asian and Pacific Islander community in the U.S. immigrated from another country. We also sponsor over one-third of family-based visas and our loved ones face massive backlogs as we wait to be reunited. Immigration reform is a top priority for our community. That’s why we’ve come together and will continue to show our support for elected leaders to pass a workable immigration system that will allow 11 million aspiring Americans to become citizens and keep families together.

The Nevada State AFL-CIO also created a new website, Our American Dream, dedicated to immigration policy reform and collecting stories from Nevadans about their support and from those impacted by our current broken system.